


Touch-Tone Telephone

by TheatrePhantom



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, College, Crying, Cryptozoology, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, Falling In Love, Family Issues, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunting, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Membrane Ends Up Being a Good Dad Though!, Mutual Pining, Phone Calls & Telephones, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Burn, THEY SORT THINGS OUT, ZADF, ZaDr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:34:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheatrePhantom/pseuds/TheatrePhantom
Summary: Based off of Lemon Demon’s song Touch-Tone Telephone- in which Zim has scored himself a job as the person taking calls and tips for a small press channel on the AM radio as his cover story. It's a pretty peaceful job- or at least it would be if SOMEONE didn't keep calling in.
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 116
Kudos: 138





	1. New World

Zim had spent the better part of his life on Earth attempting to get rid of Dib Membrane one way or another. Throughout the majority of his childhood on Earth, Zim spent his time attempting to throw Dib off of his trail, using all of his power to try and put a stop to Dib’s attempts at ruining him and his attempts to dominate Earth. For every ounce of effort Zim put forth, though, Dib put forth just as much energy to take him down. Despite Zim being _obviously_ far superior to the pathetic human, he had to admit that the other man had had some tact and power on his side that made him quite the formidable foe. He had been the bane of Zim’s very existence for _years_. Dib had dedicated so much of his time to destroying Zim- exposing him to the entire world. After all of that time spent fighting the shockingly strong guy, researching him, going out of his way to create plans surrounding him, and having to rework entire ideas due to Dib’s attempts to ruin them, Zim would have thought that he would be glad to be rid of the nuisance of a person. As it turned out, there were things far more exhausting than dealing with the human. Specifically, working at the local AM radio station. 

After high school, Dib went to an amazing university nearby- as per his father’s requests as well as his own personal desires- while Zim went straight to getting a low-paying job nearby to keep up his cover. It took him quite a bit of time to decide what to do after school, unsure whether it or not it would be in his best interests to keep an eye on Dib. After all, he _had_ been the only thing stopping him from dominating the planet over the years, and it would be a good idea to ensure he stayed out of Zim's way. Still, that presented it's own difficulties and, although that _definitely_ would have been more interesting, Zim decided that it would likely be easier for him to just lose Dib in the chaos of their lives changing. It wasn't strange for people to fall out of contact out of high school- or so Zim's research had told him- so it hadn't been too ridiculously difficult for him. That in mind, he decided to pick everything up, move house, and find the first decent job that he could get- a job at the aforementioned station. 

Considering he was the only person who worked there who didn’t need to sleep and therefore was willing to work during the "ungodly hours of the night" as the humans called them, he got the first time slot of the day easily. It seemed to be an easy enough job to maintain- all he had to do was watch the phones and bring any interesting news to his bosses daily. _Shockingly_ , the majority of humans didn’t seem to have any interesting news to send to one another at four in the morning, so there wasn’t much to report most days.

Zim didn’t expect boredom to be worse than dealing with _Dib Membrane_ every single day. As it turned out, dull humans were _far_ worse to deal with than aggravatingly intelligent and strong ones. Some days, when the station was particularly gratingly silent, he found himself staring off into space, wishing that he had just gone to college with the Dib-Stink instead of subjecting himself to interacting with the humans that he currently had in his life. With his arch-nemesis (ex-arch-nemesis?), he didn't have to suffer from the lonely boredom in the way that he did while working at the ridiculous radio station.

No matter. At the very least, he had plenty of time on his hands to spend working on his _actual_ mission of taking over Earth. Complete world domination was _far_ easier to work towards when your arch-nemesis wasn’t attacking you at every single turn, even if that meant that Zim had to take breaks in the middle of his _real_ work to deal with the idiotic humans that began plaguing his life once he got his cover job at the radio station. 

Thankfully, the idiots considered his work colleagues and those who called into the show didn’t have much impact on his life and would only be there temporarily. 

Except for _one_ caller who would _not_ let up. Frequently, they would call in, regaling Zim with their idiotic stories regarding ridiculous theories they had about everything imaginable. They spoke about some massive body of water where lost things went and of endless fields of sun. They called in with sightings of the things that humans called “cryptids”, offering up information about them and their whereabouts. The voice spoke of colonies of strange creatures that lived beneath the surface of the planet and of other races of creatures up in the sky.

At first, the voice had acted as a far-off creature that arrived occasionally for Zim’s amusement and nothing more. As far as Zim had been concerned, the voice had far more interesting things to say to him than any of the other few voices did, even if their words were utterly ridiculous, sometimes. The voice offered Zim some solace in his trying times, bringing him stories and intrigue when little else would. Without Dib or other Invaders working for the Armada, Zim had very few people in his life that actually interested or inspired him. He had no one to challenge him as Dib had or to inspire new ideas and tactics. With the members of the Armada- the Almighty Tallests specifically- calling him less and less, he had little to no interaction with his own species. 

None of this mattered, of course! None of it bothered him _at all_ . He didn’t miss that pathetic human worm, nor did he miss his “home” back with the others of his race. Zim just got lonely, sometimes- and things were less exciting when he didn’t have a nemesis to think about. Work was less fun without the challenge the human presented. But Zim wasn't _lonely_. He was an invader of the Irken Armada and would not be subjected to the disgusting things that plagues humans- the silly little things they called "emotions" that got in the way and harmed them, pathetically stopping them at every turn. He was better than that. 

Still, the voice was nice to have around, when they did decide to call in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been getting back into the Invader Zim fandom, so here is my first ever contribution. Please tell me what you think about this first chapter and hit me with any critique you may have! Have a fantastic rest of your day/night.


	2. Destiny is Calling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib makes an interesting discovery.

Dib loved university, he really did! It was a completely different experience from any schooling he’d had before. Unlike middle school and high school, the professors here seemed to actually care about their jobs and put forth effort to be decent at them. Similarly, the majority of his fellow peers actually cared about their classes since they had to  _ pay _ to be there. In general, his classes were far more interesting as a result of a combination of those around him caring, as well as the fact that he actually had the power to chose the classes he wanted to take and what he wanted to study. Every class had different dynamics, from small, tightly-knit classes gathered around one small table to the classes that took up an entire lecture hall. Even just living on campus was completely different than living back at home with his dad and sister had been. The people at university actually had personalities rather than being the copy-paste zombies that he had gone to school with for so many years- some of them even shared Dib’s interest in the paranormal! University was completely different than anything he had ever experienced in the past and he absolutely loved it. 

He did have to admit, though, there were several drawbacks. For instance, he was even  _ more _ sleep-deprived than usual and his eating schedule had been completely thrown off (he couldn't tell if he was losing weight from eating less or gaining it from fueling himself primarily through junk foods). While his classes were far more interesting and fun than they had been during high school, they also demanded far more of his time and attention and he frequently found himself working into the late hours of the night through a horrible amalgamation of a heavy workload and his own horrible time-management skills. 

Still, he was doing fairly well at university and he had to admit that, overall, he was really enjoying the new experiences. There was  _ one thing _ that still haunted him, though: Zim. 

Dib had completely lost touch with the gremlin of an alien after high school let out as if the creature had vanished off the face of the Earth (if  _ only _ that was the case), and, while Dib wasn’t  _ seeing _ the world fall apart because of this, he _knew_ that the alien had to be up to something . Zim was certainly still somewhere on Earth, continuing to plot to take over their entire planet. During high school, Dib had been the only person to challenge Zim and was one of the few things standing between him and world domination. Without Dib to stand in his way and thwart his villainous plans, he had  _ no clue _ what the Irken was capable of doing. If Zim wasn’t constantly being taken down by Dib, who- or what-  _ was _ keeping him from destroying the world? He knew that worrying about it wasn’t going to help him fix the problem but that didn’t stop Dib from lying awake at night, staring off into the distance and wondering what had happened to the alien and what he was planning. Without Dib to stop him, he feared that Zim would finally succeed with his mission to destroy their race and, with no knowledge on where Zim was, Dib was completely helpless to this. 

He hadn’t seen the alien for months, though, so, maybe, just maybe, that meant nothing more than that Zim had finally given up and left the planet. 

As much as Dib wanted to believe that, thought, he just…  _ couldn’t _ . It wasn’t possible- it made absolutely  _ no sense _ ! After all of those years of them fighting tooth and nail for what they believed in, Zim wouldn’t just give up. He wouldn’t just abandon ship after everything he had done to take over the world. He wouldn’t! Dib refused to consider that as a true possibility. 

But on the other hand… there wasn’t much he  _ could _ do if Zim was still there- he hadn’t been able to locate the alien since he had started university. They had completely fallen out of contact, as strange as that was. As much as Dib worried about where Zim was and what he was doing, he just  _ didn’t know _ . He couldn’t do anything to stop Zim if he didn’t know of the alien's wherabouts or what he was doing and, as much as it pained Dib to admit it, he had to let go- at least for now. There was no way in  _ Hell _ Dib was going to let Zim succeed, but, after months of nothing happening and the world moving on perfectly fine on its own, Dib begrudgingly decided he would just cross that bridge when he came to it. 

Besides, even without Zim making attempts on his life, there were plenty of important things he needed to reveal to all of humanity. Scientific anomalies, cryptids, secrets kept hidden by the government- he wasn’t going to let humanity go without them knowing the truth and he had _plenty_ to share. He had seen hundereds if not thousands of strange things over the years that would completely blow the minds of his fellow humans and would prove to them once and for all that he wasn't merely some crazy students but a genius beyond his time. 

This is what went through Dib’s mind as he dialled the number for the local AM radio station. It was ridiculously early in the morning, yes, but the truth waited for no one! It could not be stopped by something as weak as time. 

Plus... Dib couldn’t sleep and this was the earliest he could call into the station. 

Despite knowing that the station was technically open for call, he didn’t know if anyone would actually pick up considering the early- late?- hour of the day. He was pleasantly surprised when he heard the familiar crackle of the line connecting and being answered. 

He grinned and spoke before the other person had time to say anything, “Hello. I’m "Mothman" and I’m calling to share the truth.”

“Yeah, yeah,” a strangely familiar voice on the other end responded, voice sounding exhausted, not from lack of sleep, rather from irritating people and objectives, “If you have any “truth” that I don’t already know, I’ll be surprised.” 

Dib blinked slowly as the sound of the voice sank in. That voice... could it be-?

“Well? What do you have to say, _worm_?”

A grin spread across Dib’s face as he fully recognized the voice and what it meant.  _ Oh, this was going to fun _ .


	3. Spirit Phone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dibby goes ghost hunting.

Did Dib still have a ten-page essay to write back at his dorms? Yes. Was it due in two days? Yes. But was he going to stop what he was doing so he could come back and finish it? _Nope._

As much as Dib cared about his classes- and he _really_ did, for the most part- this was _far_ more important. This was a matter far bigger and more powerful than school work- this was a matter of exposing one of the many things the world kept hidden from his fellow humans and Dib refused to allow that to continue for any longer. This was something that could not just be ignored in favour of doing school work. This was bringing to light the existence of the ghosts that lived- well _resided_ they were no longer alive- not far beyond the realm of the living. He was going to call attention to them and _prove_ what he had seen. 

Of course, with Zim confirmed to be back on some level, there were still more important things to be showing humanity ( _shockingly,_ Dib considered an alien attempting to take over the entire planet and enslave the human race to be of pretty high importance), but he couldn’t very well do that until he knew exactly where Zim was and how to draw him out. This was just a small step in his plan to draw out the villainous alien once and for all… plus it wouldn’t hurt if Dib was able to expose several other things to humanity along the way. 

Proving the existence of these things was just small steps towards Dib’s actual goal, but that didn’t make each individual step towards hunting down and capturing Zim any less important. Each and every step could theoretically be the last step, depending on how well each one worked and how susceptible Zim was to each of them. Each step was also a piece of the world that humanity ignored, refusing to accept as reality. The steps to Dib’s plan were all just as important as his goal and he was thrilled to begin working towards capturing Zim. 

For now, though, it was the time for Dib to focus on ghosts. 

Were ghosts something that would interest Zim? Probably not, but at least Zim would believe him and he needed a safe starting point. Ghosts were neutral ground, so they were the perfect place to start to develop a conversation between the two of them. Plus Dib had never had a full ghost obsession during school, so, assuming Zim hadn’t already recognized him by his voice, it wouldn’t be something that would immediately tie back to him. Dib knew that that was a bit of a reach, but the alien had sounded so disinterested over the phone the other day that Dib didn’t think he necessarily had to put forth too much effort to keep his identity hidden from the other. 

Dib shook his head, breaking himself from his thoughts. He needed to focus on the task at hand and not let himself get lost in the past of the potential future if he wanted to be able to get anywhere with this. 

With that in mind, he slipped his glasses off and replaced them with his specialized goggles. They were just a prototype, so Dib wasn’t completely certain that they would work flawlessly, but being able to see the ghosts easily wasn’t his main priority- being able to capture their voices was. At the very least, he knew that the goggles made it a little easier to see in the dark and that they actually did fit his prescription. 

Dib popped open the latches on his briefcase, carefully removing the spirit box from inside. Obviously, he hadn’t just bought one off of Amazing blindly. He had done plenty of research on his own and had even gotten other members from the Swollen Eyeball Network involved. With their combined knowledge as well as what he was able to find online and in the few credible books he found, Dib had managed to construct what he was certain would be a decent detector. It would, hopefully, pick up on words from spirits, show the words on the screen, display where the spirit was in reference to him with the colour of the small light on top of the device, and- when he was holding down on the button on the side- record what the spirits were saying. He had tried it out a few times before and was fairly confident in its abilities. In fact, Dib was pretty proud of himself for being able to make a decent spirit box on his first try!

Dib flipped the switch no the side, turning on the small device. It whirred to life in his hands, beeping quietly as it calibrated. There was no noise aside from the gentle beeping of the machine, alerting him that it was actively working and trying to pick up anything nearby. No messages from any ghosts or spirits of any kind just yet. 

No matter, Dib had all night. 

~~~

Although Dib _had_ all night, he hadn’t anticipated actually _needing_ all night to gather enough evidence. He had been hoping to find at least _something_ of interested before one AM, but, as it turned out, that had been nothing more than wishful thinking. Up until 1:23 AM, there had been absolutely nothing that his spirit box had picked up aside from the occasional, gurgled, staticky noise that neither Dib nor his contraption could pick up on. 

He was just about to give up and head back to the dorms, kicking himself for sneaking out for a failed experiment, when he heard an audible voice, _finally_ speaking to him. 

Blinking in shock, he whirled around, gazing around the small park. He saw a small, smudged outline of a figure not far from him. Glancing down at the spirit box, he confirmed his suspicions: the machine was sensing the sounds as well, picking up on whole words. 

With a grin, Dib held down the record button before following the dull yellow light at the top of his device towards the figure he could barely make out through his goggles. As he drew nearer, the colour of the light slid through the colour gradient before finally becoming a pale green once he was mere feet from the figure. Now, it was far clearer in his vision, seeming far less like a strange, soupy creature of the mist and more like something that could actually be there, even if it wasn’t completely alive. 

Dib reached up, clicking a small button on the side of his goggles slowly, holding it down for a moment before releasing it. With a small click of acknowledgement, the goggles snapping a picture of what Dib was seeing- or so he hoped. He couldn’t be sure how it actually turned out- or if it even worked- until he connected the goggles to his phone and transferred the picture. 

And then, it spoke. 

Dib couldn’t make out the words perfectly, so he looked down to the screen of his spirit box to read what it displayed. 

_“It’s late. Go home.”_

Dib made a face, tilting his head to the side at that, “Well, that’s thoughtful… are there any more of you around.” 

_“Soon.”_

“There will be more of you soon?”

The ghost said nothing more and the light began fading back to yellow. 

Regardless, Dib thanked the spirit as it left, releasing the recording button in favour of continuing to wander the park in search of other discoveries. He had been hoping to get more than just one recording and one picture, but it was better than nothing. Besides, if he couldn’t find anything else today, he could call back in later in the week if he found more decisive evidence then. 

For now, though, this was enough to validate him calling back into the station. Tomorrow, he would be speaking to Zim once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, I know this is cheesy as hell, but we're not going to talk about that.  
> Unlike the previous two chapters, I didn't read this a second time before posting it. We die like warriors, I guess. I do apologize for any mistakes, though, I was just slightly more crunched for time than I was for the other two chapters. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed and have a wonderful rest of your day/night.


	4. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Over a phone call, Zim and Dib make a few discoveries.

Humans weren’t exactly _difficult_ to control. Using the right commands, you could convince them to do nearly anything no matter how diabolical or self-destructive it was. There were several biological factors that went into why any creature made their decisions and what drove their actions. Zim could _easily_ take advantage of how simple to manipulate humans were, even if he couldn’t create a device that would actively give him direct control over their biological functions. Of course, it would be ideal to have absolute control over those that he chose as targets, but it would be far easier for him to just manipulate them into doing his bidding. _Literally_ controlling their minds would be difficult, but using people’s greatest fears and deepest desires to motivate them to listen to him? _That_ was easy. 

All Zim had to do was decide what would drive each person the most, be it through promises (empty) or threats (less empty) and then use what he knew about people as a whole to create a scenario that would convince them to listen to him. For some people, he could manipulate them with human currency or promises of fame and fortune. For others, threats of pain and torture to them or their loved ones would be sufficient. Either way, it wouldn’t be too difficult for Zim to get the pathetic humans under his control. As long as he had some way to constantly feed them his propaganda, he would have no problem creating a small army. With a device similar to the one he had used all those years ago to help him sell chocolates back in elementary school, he could trap humans in their own personalized Hell or Heaven to force them to do his bidding. 

Deciding what to use wouldn’t even be difficult as most humans seemed to be driven by the same things. The majority of them had the same desires and several overpowering fears were common among them and could easily drive their decisions. Plus, if Zim could deduce a way to personalize each machine _very specifically_ to each person through some sort of wiring to their brains- which he was _very_ confident he could do- he could capture their minds within mere _minutes_. All he had to do was-

The overpowering ring of the phone pierced the pensive silence that Zim had been working in, causing him to grit his teeth and hiss at the distraction. 

At least it _would_ be easy for him to get them under his control if this _stupid human_ would stop interrupting his plotting time! The calls were really beginning to get on Zim’s nerves whenever they came at such inopportune times. He had no patience for people distracting him from such important tasks. 

Regardless, he grabbed the phone and held the device up lazily, glaring at it as he spoke into the receiver, “What is it _now_ , “Mothman”?” He didn’t have to ask to know who it was that was calling at such an hour. Zim would be more surprised if some other human dared to rear their ugly head at this time. 

Confident as ever, they spoke, “Last night, I made contact with spirits!”

“Uh-huh?” Zim stared disdainfully at the phone in his hand, tugging at a strand of hair on his wig. 

“Mhmm,” the voice hummed in confirmation, “ _And_ I have audio proof.”

“Of course you would,” Zim had zero disbelief within him- he had heard of stranger things than what humans called “ghosts” and this Mothman wasn’t one to give him garbage information, no matter how irritating they were as an informant, but that didn’t excite Zim- not when his mind was still focused on far more important things. Still, he couldn’t help but be mildly intruigued, so he told himself he was humouring them when he continued. “What is it that they said to you, stinky?”

There was a click followed by staticy, distant voices on the other end of the line, presumably of such low quality due to it being replayed over the phone. The voices in the clips played by the other over the phone were quiet but Zim could pick out individual voices and phrases nonetheless. 

After all of the clips had been played, Zim spoke, “Am I supposed to be impressed?”

They scoffed, “Yes- this is _proof_ that ghosts are real.”

“As _thrilled_ as I am to hear that,” Zim rolled his eyes, “I really don’t think that’ll make the cut as far as my bosses are concerned.”

The voice on the other end sighed, disappointed that their work had been dismissed so easily and Zim couldn’t help but empathize slightly- not because he cared about humans in the least, but because he, at the very least, knew what that felt like. “What _would_ interest your bosses?”

In all honesty, Zim had no clue what kind of things would interest his bosses- he rarely spoke to them or reported anything to them. Considering his early time-slot, few people called in, and an even smaller number of people had information interesting enough to be passed along. Aside from They Who Wouldn’t Shut the Fuck Up, there were no constant voices on the other end of the phone.

Just as Zim was about to tell the voice off so he could get back to his work, he hesitated. This person seemed determined to share the “truth” with the people, almost crazed with this desire. Maybe, just _maybe_ , this could benefit Zim. As much as Zim didn’t need the help, he wasn’t going to refuse any information the voice might give him that could help him along- besides, the voice gave him a distraction far more interesting than most other humans typically were. 

“What do _you_ think the people want to hear?” Zim asked in lieu of answering the question. 

They hesitated, “I think they’d be interested in the ghosts for one-” Zim huffed at that- “But, I think they’d be more interested in things that either benefit them in some way or are powerful, horrifying things. Things like _that_ will grab their attention. People are selfish, for one, and like to view terror from a safe distance. They can’t ignore things like that.”

Zim’s antenna twitched underneath his wig at that, mildly intrigued. Maybe this human could give him just what he needed- perfect examples of the things that he could use to get others like them under his control. They could feed them the exact information he needed to get the human race on his side and he wouldn’t even need to do much in the way of research beyond answering the voice’s calls. Maybe he could even begin searching for the Dib-thing again with all of the time on his hands that this human’s willing research for him would create… 

Zim shook his head. He was _not_ going to go _looking_ for his nemesis. Why would he go out of his way to create problems for himself when he was doing so well? Zim was just… _concerned_ that the Dib would figure things out and start something with him, again, he rationalised. Nothing more! Merely suspicion built up after years kept the other on his mind so consistently. 

“You think?” Zim confirmed, realizing that he had been quiet for far too long. 

“I _know._ ”

Zim didn’t need Dib- not when he was so close to world domination with the help of the stupid voice over the telephone. The dumb creature was about to give Zim _exactly_ what he needed for his plan without any question. Perhaps this “cover job” had been a better idea than he had first imagined...

“Call me when you have something they would like, then.”

“Oh, I will,” the grin in their voice was practically audible, “You can count on it.”

“Good.” With that, Zim clicked the phone off.

~~~

Dib couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his throat once the phone went silent in his hands. His plan was working even better- and at a far faster rate- than he had hoped. Zim was clearly beginning to trust him already. The alien knew that his information was good and that he would give Zim anything he wanted if it meant his voice getting out to the world. The idiotic alien was walking straight into his trap without a second thought.

Dib pocketed his phone and adjusted the collar of his trench coat. He could revel in his success later (well, maybe he could revel in it a _little bit_ now- he deserved it), for now, he had evidence to collect and discoveries to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually edited this chapter. I hope that you all enjoy this, but any feedback is greatly appreciated.  
> Have a magical rest of your day/night.


	5. The Station

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib hears something game-changing over the radio.

Dib had been ruefully working on his studies for several hours, the sound of pen scrabbling against his paper mingling in the air with the sound of the radio station Zim worked at playing in the background quietly as he did so. Of course, he knew that Zim wouldn’t be actively _on_ the radio show speaking, nor would whilst he was working be a good time for Dib to monitor his words and actions if he _did_ appear on the show in any meaningful way. Regardless, curiosity kept him tuned in as much as he could and he didn’t mind barely listening to it as he worked on other things, keeping it as somewhat peaceful background noise.

Considering Dib had such low expectations for what he would hear on the station, he was absolutely shocked with what he heard while working, forcing him to pause and do a double-take as he heard the words over the radio. For several moments, the hosts rambled about background information, discussing location and time and such before playing a short audio-clip- an audio clip Dib knew all too well, in which a distant, faint voice muttered words familiar to him.

They were covering something _he_ had called into the station with.

For several minutes, Dib couldn’t help but sit there, completely dumbfounded. He gaped at his radio, unable to stop his mouth hanging open in excited shock. Then, as it finally sank in, his eyes widened and a massive grin spread across his face. The world was finally hearing the truth! Even though it _was_ just a small, unimportant piece of truth, it was _real_ and people were _hearing_ him!

He kicked his chair back from his desk, pumping his fists up in the air with a thrilled shout that earned him a weird look from one of Dib’s dormmates- the only other one still in their room out of the four of them.

Mason slipped his headphone off of his head, still giving Dib a strange look regarding his sudden outburst, but Dib just couldn’t stop smiling. 

“What just happened?”

“The proof I submitted about the ghosts in Whiteford Park was on the radio!”

“Holy shit, really?” Mason’s eyes lit up just as Dib’s did, grinning as well as he pushed his work away, “Dib, that’s _amazing_!”

“I know! I can’t believe they actually accepted my recordings- and that wasn’t even the best work I’ve done. If they accepted that, they’ll definitely take my other stuff!” Dib was absolutely over the moon and _nothing_ could bring him down at that moment. 

“Man, I wish my investigation was going that well,” Mason sighed and leaned back, though he didn’t sound jealous. He was still smiling, clearly glad that his friend had done well, even if he wasn’t doing the same, “I don’t know who it is that always takes your calls, but you _have_ to keep calling into them specifically if they take you seriously.”

Mason was absolutely right and Dib knew it. As much as he hated being able to attribute some of his success to Zim, he knew that his words would never have made it out to the public ear in this way had Zim not helped him out as he did- though he still couldn’t completely understand _why_ Zim had decided to actually pass on his information. Regardless, Zim was taking him seriously and was actually _trusting_ him. If Dib continued to send Zim tips and information, his words would get out and the people would hear the truth! More importantly, the fact that Zim trusted his information enough to pass it on to his bosses to be discussed proved that he _trusted_ Dib and Zim trusting him meant that Dib had _power_ over the Irken.

Dib stood, grabbing his camera and his journal. He wasn’t sure what he was going out in search of, but he knew he wanted to find _something_ \- he had too much energy to just sit there and continue doing school work. He was going to go out and find more information to bring to Zim- to the bring to the _world_. He certainly had plenty of options for where to go and what to find, even if he was going out without a plan- he could afford a bit of spontaneity every now and then.

“Where are you going?”

“To find the truth!” Dib declared dramatically as he tugged on his shoes. 

Mason glanced at Dib’s desk sceptically, “Don’t you still have that essay to write?”

“Not when there are more important things to be found, my friend,” Dib grinned, “Want to come with?”

Mason frowned, “No, I still have to finish this… good luck, though, dude!”

“Suit yourself. I’ll be back in an hour or two,” Dib waved to his friend before heading out the front door of their dorms, feeling better than he had in a while. 

_Everything_ about Dib’s plan was going off without a hitch and he couldn’t imagine being happier. 

~~~

Zim knew _exactly_ what he was doing when he had handed the tapes in to his bosses, passing on the recordings from the call he had had with the voice from the other day (obviously, he had cut the audiotapes so that what he passed over to them only contained the information from the voice as well as the recordings they had played for Zim- he was careful to cut out the rest of their conversation before he gave it to them). He knew what getting the voice’s words on the station meant and he accepted it fully. If they knew that Zim was taking them seriously and that they would be heard if they just called in and told Zim what they discovered, they would continue to give Zim _precisely_ what he needed to succeed. 

He felt like an absolute genius as he turned in the tapes before heading home for the night, new ideas for his latest plan already formulating in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little bit shorter than the previous chapters, but it's essentially just setting up for the upcoming one. Regardless, I hope it didn't suck and that you all enjoyed it.


	6. Game-Changing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Professor membrane has some things to say about Dib's interests in the paranormal.

“Son, I just don’t understand,” Despite the goggles blocking quite a bit of Membrane’s face, Dib could still see how his father’s eyebrows furrowed in confused worry and he didn’t need to be able to see his mouth to know that he was frowning. 

In hindsight, it was stupid of Dib to believe that, once he got into university, his dad would stop lecturing him about the shit he did. 

“You were doing so well with your studies-”

That part was true. Before everything happened, he had been doing fairly well- he wasn’t at the top of all of his classes like his dad would want but he was still passing all of them with flying colours. He was doing so well that his dad had actually seemed proud of him for what felt like the first time in centuries. 

“You were taking interest in _real_ science!”

But then Dib got distracted. He started focusing on Zim- on scouring the local areas for cryptids and things undefined by science to show to the alien. He spent more time out late at night searching for more interesting evidence to share with the world than he did in his classes, studying and doing work. He got high off of the feeling of his voice being heard and of people understanding and believing him- so much so that he allowed himself to completely fall behind in all of his classes in favour of doing research for an _alien_ (Dib knew that he was only giving Zim the information because _he_ wanted to, but it felt better to blame someone else). 

“I just don’t know what’s happened to you.”

Dib wanted to explode. He wanted to lash out at his father and tell him that nothing had changed, that he was just finally allowing himself to fully pursue his real interests as much as he had wanted to in the past, even if he had let it get somewhat out of control. He wanted his dad to realize that this wasn’t a _phase_ he was going through, that this was his real _passion_ , that this was something he was going to continue to take interest in and, hopefully, make his full-time occupation. 

But he didn’t. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and said nothing, keeping his words to himself and said what he knew his dad wanted to hear, “I just… let myself get distracted and caught up in everything else. I’ll catch back up.”

“Son…”

“I’m going to be _fine_ , Dad. I promise.”

Membrane didn’t look convinced. 

~~~

As much as Dib hated to do it, he put his paranormal investigating on the back burner, focusing completely on his school work. He poured every ounce of time and energy he had into catching up in his classes and pulling ahead in them once more. Instead of waking up early to search for creatures that lived in the mist, he woke up early for classes. He exchanged going to the library to search for books and journals on the paranormal with going to the library for group study sessions. While he used to stay up until the late hours of the night to hunt for ghosts and other such creatures of the night, he stayed up late to finally finish the essays that he had been putting off. He completely ignored his paranormal investigation for what felt like years but was, in reality, not much more than two weeks’ time. 

Dib still loved his classes and putting himself back into them again did make him happy to some extent- being able to succeed in the classroom made him feel good about himself even if several of his classes had less to do with his main interests and more to do with getting the required credits. He liked school, but, cutting paranormal investigation out of his life completely, even if it were only for a short amount of time felt _wrong_. 

As Dib stared mournfully at the Mothman sticker plastered to the back of his laptop, he decided to do something he hadn’t done in, well, he didn’t exactly know when the last time had been. 

He grabbed his phone and dialled the number for the radio station. He didn’t have anything new and interesting to tell Zim- in fact, he had no clue _why_ he was calling the other if it didn’t have to do with his plan. Dib almost hung up the phone, deciding that whatever it was that he was trying to do was stupid, when he heard the telltale click on the other end, alerting him that his call had gone through. 

“Uh, hi.”

~~~

Zim wasn’t worried about the human when they stopped calling. He couldn’t care less about what happened to them or what they were doing, it was just… strange- and, more importantly, it affected his ingenious plan. If the voice wasn’t calling in to speak to him and tell him new, important things that he could use in his mission, it impacted him. That’s the _only_ reason Zim cared that they had stopped calling at all. He was just having a hard time advancing his projects in the ways that he wanted without the added help of the voice, that was _it_. He didn’t care about the voice in general, he just cared about how they impacted him and his mission and, currently, they were getting in the way of Zim’s plans. 

That was the only reason that Zim’s antennae perked up when he heard that the voice on the other end of the line was, in fact, the one he had been waiting for, “Moth-Beast?”

His nickname was met with a weak chuckle on the other end, “Yeah.”

“Where has the Beast been?”

“Uh… I’ve just been busy with schoolwork and… stuff,” the voice sounded tired, hesitant. Zim couldn’t help but frown a little. 

“Is the Stinky okay?”

There was a snort on the other end of the line and Zim rolled his eyes. At least they sounded slightly less pathetically sad after hearing that. 

“Yeah, I’m okay,” there was a long pause on the other end before they finally spoke, again, “My dad just… doesn’t really support my paranormal investigation.”

“Why?”

“He doesn’t believe in it.”

Zim squinted. How stupid could people be to not recognize the evidence all around them? Humans seemed more and more idiotic the more he learned about them. “Why?”

“After everything he’s seen? I have _no_ clue.”

“So… the Stink is just going to _stop_ because of their father?”

Again, there was quiet on the other end. 

“Beast-?”

“Well, _no_ , I’m not just going to give up on the paranormal- not when I _know_ that it’s real, but… I don’t know, it just _hurts_ that he doesn’t believe- that I don’t make him _proud_ just by being myself.”

It was Zim’s turn to go quiet with thought. Although he didn’t have parental figures in the way humans did, he _did_ understand what it felt like to disappoint those who you look up to- those who matter to you. He had gone through so much of his life making his Tallests proud and being one of the best Invaders of the entire Armada. Not that long ago, though, his own failures had left them... less than pleased with his actions. Zim couldn’t even begin to imagine how terrible it would be to continuously disappoint someone that important to you, to never have them believe in you. It hurt terribly when he disappointed his Tallests, but, at the very least, he knew that, overall, they valued him deeply as an Invader as well as an Irken. But this voice… they didn’t even have that.

“You still there?”

“Yes,” Zim shook his head, clearing his thoughts. 

“Anyways, I don’t know why I called, I don’t have anything to tell you. I should probably go now.”

“No.”

“Huh?”

Zim sighed softly, “No. Don’t go.”

“But I don’t have anyth-”

“That doesn’t matter.”

A silence settled between the two of them for a long moment before Zim spoke again. 

“Talk to your...” he faltered over the word, _“Father.”_

The voice scoffed, “And tell him _what_? That I don’t give a shit what he says and that I’m going to continue doing what I want to, whether or not he likes it?”

“Yes.”

“You’re serious?”

“It’s important for him to accept what you are doing, yes? Say that. You’re right about the… paranormal, even if he doesn’t know it. Make him understand and make him understand that it’s important for you,” Zim urged, “You don’t have to completely give up the paranormal just so you can do things that make him proud. Do both. Don’t let that stop you. He’ll be proud once he sees how right you are.” 

Zim didn’t know why he was even telling the voice this. He shouldn’t have cared at all, and he couldn’t explain why he _did_ care beyond the idea that, indirectly, how the voice felt impacted him. He knew deep down that it was more than just that. He _did_ care about what happened to the voice, but… he just couldn’t understand _why_.

“What are the chances that’ll actually work, though? I mean-”

Zim groaned, “Just. _Try_.”

The voice sighed quietly. 

“Tired?” Zim may not have required sleep the way that humans did, but he had spent enough time around them and masquerading as one of them to know that normal humans _did_ need regular sleep to function. 

They hesitated, “A bit.”

Zim was slightly surprised that the voice had actually admitted to it.

“I should probably go now.”

“Are you going to take the amazing advice?”

The voice chortled and Zim quirked a small smile at the sound. 

“Yes. I will. Or, at least, I’ll _try_.”

“Good. Now, go. Before your pathetic human body topples over from exhaustion.” Zim didn’t even care that he had allowed his attempt at typical human speech patterns had slipped- he doubted they were lucid enough to notice if he spoke slightly differently than usual humans.

Again, they snorted, “Yeah, yeah, weirdo. I’ll talk to you later.”

“You better. Even if you don’t have anything decent- I have to know that my best informant hasn’t up and died, again.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” they hummed, “Good night.”

“Good night.”

The phone clicked definitively as the human finally hung up. 

~~~

Dib felt ridiculously nervous when he went to visit his dad to confront him. His palms felt damp with sweat that wouldn’t go away no matter how many times he attempted to wipe the moisture off on his jeans. His mouth felt oddly dry, as though he were choking on a mouthful of cotton rather than just hyping himself up to walk up to the front door and go inside to see his father.

He felt like an absolute fool standing in front of his own house, too nervous to go inside, though, so he pushed down his jittery nerves and unlocked the door, slipping in and heading down into his dad’s laboratory.

The sound of Dib’s shoes hitting the tiled floor caught Membrane’s attention, making him look up from whatever machinery he had been previously working on. Behind his goggles, his eyes lit up upon seeing Dib arriving unexpectedly. “Son!” He set aside his tools and stepped away from his work table, “I didn’t know you were planning on coming over today.”

“It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision,” Dib muttered, twisting his fingers into the fabric of his trench coat, “Dad, I’m here because we need to talk.”

Membrane’s eyebrows drew together slightly, clearly not expecting that response, “Alright.”

The entire time Dib spent travelling from his university to his dad’s house, he planned what he was going to say, creating a mental script for himself as he made his way there and coaching himself through each and every word. Now that he was actually there, he lost the eloquence he had planned on the way there as the words crashed out of him like a tsunami. “I’m not going to give up my paranormal investigation,” he began, “I know that you don’t believe in the paranormal, but I _know_ that it is true and I have plenty of evidence to back it up. I know that you don’t respect this kind of research as actual science, but _I do_ . It’s more important to me than you could possibly understand that people know about these things and it’s even more important to me that you… accept that and accept _me_ .” Dib took a deep breath, steeling himself, “Dad, I need you to _support_ me, even if you don’t get it.”

Just like all those weeks ago, Dib could see his father’s deep frown, despite his face being covered by his tall lab coat as it usually was. He could see how low and tightly furrowed his eyebrows were and how his entire posture changed as he listened to Dib, hearing his words. 

“Son…”

Hearing the pain in Membrane’s voice made Dib want to cry- something he genuinely rarely did. He was able to cope with emotions fairly well and many things didn’t bother him as deeply as one would expect them to. When it came to this, though, Dib was… pretty weak. 

Before Dib could say anything, though, Membrane pulled him into a hug, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close to his chest, “I’ve always been proud of you… if this is what you really want to do, then I’ll support you, no matter what.”

Dib returned the hug immediately, leaning into the hug. 

“But you have to promise me that you’ll still put forth your best in your regular studies. I just- I don’t want this… paranormal investigating thing to go poorly for you and leave you with nothing to fall back on,” Membrane sounded genuinely concerned, “I want you to be able to support yourself- I want you to be okay, but I want you to be _happy_.”

“I’m not going to leave university,” Dib promised, leaning his forehead on his dad’s shoulder, “I’m still going to study “regular” stuff, and, if you’re that worried, I’ll get some sort of part-time job as a back-up plan, later on.”

Membrane nodded and, for several moments, they just stayed there. Dib felt as though years of anxieties and worries regarding what his father thought of him were finally coming out and being healed and. After all these years, he was beginning to see that things could actually be okay, and he couldn’t happier. 

“Dib?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you. I couldn’t have asked for a better son.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Dib couldn’t help but smile, “I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I have carefully re-read this chapter and edited it to make sure there were no mistakes and that it was the best it could be? Probably. Was I planning on doing so? Yes. But did I? ...I think you guys already know that answer.  
> I'm sorry if there are any glaring mistakes, but I am very tired, so I'm posting this now and going to sleep. LDKsjdf. I hope all of you are doing well. 
> 
> Also, I was hype about this chapter because... nice family content. Dib deserves a good family dynamic and I am here to PROVIDE.


	7. Grey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib begins to wonder...

Finally, Dib felt as though he had his life together, at least in some minuscule way. He was still doing well in his classes, and, now that he didn’t feel the same kind of pressure to succeed in them, he was able to enjoy them once more, actually finding himself taking interest in what he was being taught. Considering he felt less pressure, he was able to find a good balance between his studies and his paranormal investigation. Not only was Dib able to partake in both of them but he was also _enjoying_ both of them. Especially, now that he knew his dad supported him in his paranormal research... he felt _free_. 

Dib changing his schedule up and finding a balance made everything simpler and easier to handle. He was able to join a study group and, while it only made his classes a little easier when working with the group, it was incredibly fun to be part of- besides, Dib could always do with a little review when he had the time. On top fo that, he had even been able to bring his dormmate, Mason, with him on a few of his paranormal hunts, since they’re schedules aligned more frequently afterwards. 

Of course, it took Dib a bit of time to make the changes that helped him find a good balance in his schedule. Even now, he still struggled with getting a decent amount of sleep every night and, occasionally, ended up late to his classes when he got caught up with his paranormal investigation. Overall, though, he was doing far better than he had been back when he was trying to force himself to choose between the two of them.

Everything was going far better now, and, as much as he hated to admit it, he could thank Zim for that. Dib _loathed_ the fact that the way he was feeling and the current stability in his life was at least partly thanks to his worst- and really _only_ \- enemy. He was supposed to be protecting the world from the damned alien, not taking his advice!

Still, early the next morning, Dib found himself calling Zim, dialling the number that now burned up most of the allotted minutes on his phone and had been steadily doing so for several months.

“Hey.”

“Hello, Moth-Beast.”

“Do you ever have other people who call in and you accidentally call them that because you’re so used to me calling in?” Dib asked, quirking an eyebrow. 

“Pssht. Zim would never make such a stupid mistake.”

Dib blinked at that. Although he had long ago made the connection that this person on the other line was Zim, he had never confirmed it directly, before. Dib had begun to wonder if Zim had completely stopped talking in the third person over the years because of this. 

“Why did you call, Stinky?”

“You _told_ me to call in every once in a while to confirm to you that I’m not dead, yet, remember?” Dib pointed out. 

There was a scoff on the other end and Dib grinned in response.

~~~

After nearly an hour of banter and talking about everything from Dib’s investigations to Zim’s work, the two finally hung up. Once off the phone, Dib flopped onto his bad, holding his cell loosely in his hand as he stared up at the ceiling, eyebrows furrowed deep in thought. The more he spoke to the alien over the phone, the more he had to ask himself: Was his end goal morally correct after everything that had happened?

Zim was an _alien,_ after all. He had been planning on taking over the entire planet for several years and they had been in violent combat with one another over that since their childhood together. Zim had been mean and cruel, attempting to brutally murder him and his classmates for years. Even now he was very likely plotting to enslave the entire human race and bring an end to the world as they had all grown to know it, so _why_ did Dib feel weird about still trying to capture Zim? Because the alien had given him a few words of advice? Because the alien had gotten his voice out to the world? Hell, both of those things were likely just parts of Zim’s own plan to help himself along. What were the chances he had even had Dib’s best interest at heart when he made the decision to help him in those ways? 

Still, Dib couldn’t help but feel as though his plan to capture Zim was some act of betrayal- that he would be doing more harm than good by bringing Zim in. 

Though considering the destruction Zim had been attempting to bring to the world over all the years and the absolute reign of terror he hoped to hold over the planet, that clearly wasn’t true…

Dib groaned, massaging his temples with his free hand.

“Something wrong, man?” Mason looked up from where he was sitting at the other side of the room. 

“No- well, _yes_ \- it’s just…” Dib trailed off, huffing in agitation at his own indecision over the situation. Why was he second-guessing himself after all this time? “What do you do when someone you… I guess _care_ about is planning on doing something horrible? When you want to stop them, but don’t know if you want to hurt them to do so.”

“Well… you try to talk them out of it, I guess,” Mason shrugged, “But that kinda depends on the situation.”

“I _wish_ I could talk them out of this but they’re stubborn as _hell_.”

“You could still try.”

Dib sighed, “I could, but I’m not sure what good it’ll do.”

“You’ll probably just have to wait and see, then,” Mason suggested weakly, “But, if you care about them that much, there’s a good chance they care about you a lot, too. If they do, they’ll probably take you seriously, even if they don’t want to.”

“You think so?”

“Anything’s possible.”

“What do I do if I _can’t_ make them listen.”

“Well, if they’re doing something _terrible_ … then you might have to just go behind their back to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

Dib nodded weakly, letting his head fall back onto his pillow. 

“Is this about that guy on the radio you keep talking to?”

“Kind of.”

“What’s he trying to do? Is he a Nazi or something? If so, you should _definitely_ stop him.”

Dib snorted, “Zim is _not_ a Nazi.” He frowned momentarily. At least, as far as Dib knew, he wasn’t. The realization that Dib wasn’t completely sure about this made him think, though. He was probably imagining the closeness they had or projecting his own desires for a deeper friendship onto the other. There was definitely a chance that Zim was using him and taking advantage of how vulnerable Dib was just as Dib had been doing to Zim. Why would their relationship change just because they were older now?

“Zim? You guys have _such_ weird names.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re one to talk. _Your_ nickname is a constellation,” Dib rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but he was beginning to think more deeply about Zim, letting his mind wander away from the friend next to him. He doubted that Zim cared about him as much as Dib liked to think he did- Dib didn’t even know if Irkens were capable of feeling emotions in that capacity. 

He shook his head, closing his eyes so he could think more clearly. He _wasn’t_ going to let his emotions get in the way of him saving the world. He wasn’t going to let some _imaginary_ thoughts and falsified perceptions of Zim get in the way of what he _needed_ to do. Even if the world didn’t know it, it needed him and he wasn’t going to let everyone down just because _he_ was too weak to handle it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The boy is worried.


	8. Experimentation and Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zim makes some strange discoveries about himself, his invention, and his companion.

Over the months, Mothman had given Zim several different pieces of information that had helped him further his mind-control invention (as well as helping him endear himself to his “bosses” with his astounding work). While he still had yet to perfect the concept of actually “hacking” people’s brains, so to speak, he was certainly closer to perfecting the capabilities of his invention to manipulate people in a powerful way. Despite Zim not being able to do so in the way that he had wanted, he was positive that he could control people enough to get them to do what he desires, even if he had to go about it in a less direct way. 

Not only had he perfected several different forms of effective emotional manipulation, but he had also found a plethora of ways to complete each of them. As it turned out, Mothman had been exactly what Zim had needed and he was beginning to seriously consider taking them with Zim when he returned to the Armada, keeping them as some sort of companion or something, as a reward for their help to him.

Zim turned to face the trembling human he had contained in his basement, mind control device in hand. The contraption was small and unassuming on the outside, appearing as nothing more than goggles and earpieces with a combination metal and straps holding them together for a decent fit, making them look somewhat like a VR gaming set of sorts. Despite its outward appearance, it was powerful, and the human before him was smart enough to look frightened when Zim began approaching them with it in hand. 

The human thrashed against their bindings in a futile attempt to escape their terrible fate. Zim wasn’t going to allow that, though. It had been aggravating enough to get the one human down into his labs, he refused to let the thing get out and cause chaos within his house as well. Then, not only would he have to deal with the situation of capturing and restraining them all over again, but he would also have to clean up whatever mess they had created in the process of trying to escape. The whole ordeal would demand far more energy than it was worth, so it was best to just do what he could to ensure they stayed put safely, instead.

“Now, this may not be a pleasant experience for you, worm.”

The human babbled incoherently, though Zim was fairly sure there was some sort of frightened plea behind the incomprehensible words they attempted to speak.

Zim completely ignored whatever it was the human was attempting to communicate, focusing instead of getting the device connected to the human so that he could run his first experiment on how it impacted them in different ways. 

Once it was safely attached, he took a step back to admire his work before grabbing the remote control for it. It was a small yet somewhat complex thing with several different screens and compartments that popped out for whatever was necessary at the moment and would retract when he was working on something not associated with that particular part. This made it _far_ easier to compartmentalize and organize his work.

Considering this particular human was already scared out of their wits, he figured there was no use in attempting to use sweet words and calming imagery wrapped up in a pretty bow of false promises to get them to agree to following instructions- they were never going to take that in their current position. So he decided to go with what Mothman had supplied him the most information for (and what he, as an Irken Invader, was far more equipped to handle): psychological torture. 

He had created several different horrifying scenarios ahead of time, all of which fed into different kinds of fears and paranoias that commonly plagued the creatures of this planet. This specific human had a family that they loved- a spouse and a child, both of which meant the universe to them- so choosing what to use against them wasn’t difficult in the slightest. For them, Zim decided upon a graphic, bone-chilling threat about what may happen to that family if they were to be so foolish as to heed his words, flashing imagery suiting the horrifying tale across their vision as he did so. 

Closely, Zim watched as the human stared into space with a look of absolute terror twisted upon their features. They occasionally thrashed against their restraints as though attempting vainly to escape so that they could perhaps save the family that was lost in the nightmare playing through their head. 

Finally, after several moments of this, letting the disgusting emotions of fear and hatred simmer and bubble within the human, they were sent a simple threat spoken in low, inhuman tones. _Do as I say and they will not meet this fate._

Pathetically, they nodded with frantic vigour, blubbering pleas and promises, begging Zim to spare his family, swearing he would do absolutely anything Zim wanted in return. 

And, to Zim’s utter shock and disgust, his stomach churned uncomfortably at their words. While he had easily taken control of them with near no struggle on their end, Zim couldn’t help but feel revolted by what was happening before him. He couldn’t pin down an exact reason for why he felt the way he did, but, somewhere deep within him, he felt a faint, internal instinct telling him that what he was doing was _wrong_ , even if it was all done in hopes of helping the Armada and pleasing his leaders.

Suddenly, a worrisome thought crossed his mind. What if someone were to attempt to subject Dib or “Mothman” to this type of torture as he had been planning on doing all along? How would it affect them? Would it break them completely? Would they ever recover from the terror of the experience? How much would it hurt them?

He imagined his life-long nemesis before him, pleading for mercy and crying, promising to do whatever Zim wanted so long as the other showed him a sliver of humanity in exchange. 

A part of Zim that had been nurtured by the Armada ever since the very beginning of his existence took pleasure in the idea that he could completely unwind such a formidable foe so easily, so completely. He couldn’t help but feel pride within him as the fact that he could so easily wreak absolute havoc across this planet with his brilliant device. 

Still... there was a part of him that was completely and utterly revolted by the thought of anyone- including _him_ \- harming either his lifelong rival or the person he had been manipulating _this whole time_. He could hardly imagine how painful it would be to be forced to look on as either of them were subjected to such things, even _if_ it _directly_ benefitted him in some way. While he had once seen both of them as disposable nuisances, Zim now realized that that couldn’t be further from the truth. In all honesty, he would be completely lost without either of them to challenge and intrigue him in their different, strange ways…  
Mothman and Dib were incredibly similar in this way, now that Zim thought about it. 

How could he possibly bring himself to use this against Mothman as he had initially intended? 

With a final look towards his experiment, Zim turned away, hooking the controller he had been using directly to Computer so he could alter what it was that the human was experiencing. He completely washed the upsetting imagery and audio input from the human’s senses, instead replacing them with completely different ones. Although he kept the same family from the previous run of the experiment, he radically altered the situation that they were in, exchanging the blood and gore with far more peaceful, floaty, happy tales for the human to enjoy, with sunshine and laughter.

It took several moments, but, eventually, the human began to calm, until they finally reached some semblance of pensive peace, soothed by the realistic input from Zim’s device. 

Once they were sufficiently calm, Zim knocked them out and, under the safe cover of nightfall, dragged them back to their home, leaving them lying under the stars in the yard behind their home.

Zim lost himself in thought as he made his way back to his home. These were one of the many moments that he wished that the potential to call in for advice or simply to talk was something that went both ways between him and the voice. 

Alas, that wasn’t the case. He would have to wait for the other to reach out.

~~~

Thankfully, Zim’s hopes were relieved as Mothman called in the very next day. 

The voice didn’t have anything particularly interesting or specific to report on, they had just called in because he wanted to talk to Zim- something that was beginning to happen more and more frequently between the two of them. 

Moth-Beast, eventually, launched into a rant, revisiting memories he had about things that people seemed to have completely forgotten or pushed away as an entire collective. There were several things that had happened over the years- especially during their lifetime- that were absolutely ridiculous and strange things that _clearly_ stemmed from some sort of supernatural and alien-related actions. Several of these things, though, had been pushed aside, explained away as mass-hallucinations from pollution or chemical spills or stress of all things. Everyone seemed to have completely accepted all of these strange happenings as things that had completely normal explanations behind them, refusing to even _consider_ that aliens or other odd, unbelievable things had been the cause. Slowly, all of the things had been collectively forced from other people’s minds, forgotten to time. 

Zim had to admit that he did see the Beast’s point- _so_ many humans had completely ignored the things he had done over the years, continuing to believe that Zim was just another pathetic human like they were, despite the obvious signs that he wasn’t. The majority of the species supposedly ruling this planet were completely ignorant idiots. 

He did enjoy listening to the Moth talk about this, though. It was truly impressive how easily worked-up about things this human could become- how passionate they were most times. 

Then, he heard something that snapped him from his reverie of partially listening, partially focusing on his distant disgust for humans in general. 

“-I mean, once, when I was in elementary school our class pet grew into a _massive_ beast. Peepi was just this tiny, regular class hamster and then one day, suddenly, he was able to grow to massive sizes when he ate shit? I mean, we were in the middle of class and this hamster grew to the size of a dinosaur, broke out of the school, and started wreaking havoc- we had to get the armed forces involved! Why has everyone seemed to forget that? It was crazy!”

Wait… _what_. 

Zim squinted the gears in his head beginning to turn as he heard the other’s words, “ _Peepi_?”

There was a huff on the other line and Zim could tell that the human was deadpanning at the moment, “Really? You’re hung up on the stupid name that a bunch of immature kids gave to the class pet and not the fact that it tried to destroy the entire city?”

“Oh, shut up, Stinky,” Zim retorted, but there was little fire fueling his words. This human _remembered_ the incident regarding Peepi but that wasn’t the thing that caught his interest- it was the fact that they had called Peepi _their_ class pet. Moth had even regaled the story with specific details about _how_ the creature was able to grow far bigger than a typical hamster. He had _been_ there, inside the school- inside the same _class_ that Zim had been in. 

Who could Moth be, if that was the case? Very few of his fellow peers had stood out to him back them- the majority of them being far too weak, moronic, and pathetic to gain his interest in any long-lasting his ways. So many of them had been so _powerfully stupid_ that he was certain that none of them could actually piece things together and find all of the accurate information that the Moth had brought him over their time of knowing one another. 

Only one person had the intellect and inclination to pull that off. 

Dib Membrane.

That… certainly changed things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get you a boyfriend who gives you cute nicknames like "Beast" and "Stinky".


	9. Angry People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dib and Zim... don't know what they're going to do anymore.

Dib had, to say the least, messed up a little. He hadn’t had any intention of directly calling his true identity into question- he had just gotten caught up in what he had been saying at the time. Of course, it was possible that Zim had already known- or suspected- who he was from the very beginning and that his little slip-up had changed absolutely nothing. There was _also_ the possibility that Zim had been completely oblivious the entire time _until_ Dib had made the mistake to mention the Peepi situation. Damn him and his stupid lack of self-control…

Hopefully, the alien was still oblivious- Zim was kind of stupid- but Dib couldn’t count on that. If he still wanted his plan to go over well, he had to work fast. He needed to make an attempt before Zim had the chance to come up with a counter-attack. The alien could work quickly, especially considering his species didn’t even have to sleep, so he didn’t have much time, but he had enough. 

Just days ago, he had been having a moral dilemma over whether or not to capture Zim and turn him in. While he was still worried about the ethics behind betrayed Zim, he was more worried about what the alien could do not only to him but to the entire _world_ as well. He could easily be putting himself as well as many others in harm’s way if he allowed his cowardice and nerves to get in the way of him doing this. He couldn’t just let Zim win and he wasn’t going to take the chance of unleashing danger upon the world they way giving Zim a reprieve would do. 

In all honesty, Dib was disheartened about the entire situation- and incredibly pissed off. He had really believed deep down that he and Zim had started to form some kind of strange semblance of a connection- of a _friendship_ \- but that clearly wasn’t the case and definitely wouldn’t have worked out either way. Dib and Zim were too different. Zim was threatening the very fabric of Dib’s personal reality. You can’t just _make friends_ with the person in your life who has caused you the most trouble just because they listen to you when you talk about your passions, of because they make jokes you find funny, or because their smart, or because they’ve said nice things to you, or because-

Dib sighed and closed his eyes tightly, trying to block out the rest of the world. He was letting this get to him far more than it should have and Dib knew it. He shouldn’t _want_ to have a closeness with Zim, he shouldn’t _want_ to be Zim’s friend… yet he did. He wanted it more than he should have and, even though Dib _knew_ that it could never work out. He couldn’t form any osrt of bond with someone as blatantly evil and devious as Zim. He couldn’t let his emotions get the best of him when so many things hung in the balance- things that were bigger than Dib and what he wanted. 

“Hey, Mason?” Dib started, “I think I might need to kill an alien, soon.”

Mason furrowed his eyebrows, setting his book down, “Your alien boyfriend from the radio?”

Dib hurled his pillow at his friend, face warm with embarrassment and irritation alike. 

Mason just laughed. 

“Why?”

“He’s an evil alien that’s trying to destroy the world for his even _more_ evil alien leaders.”

“Sounds like a complicated relationship.”

“I will _burn_ your book,” Dib threatened, snatching the book from beside Mason and holding it out of his reach.   
“Hey, okay okay!” He took the book back before returning to where he had been sitting on his bed, “When are you going? I can go as back-up.” The way Mason said “back-up” made it obvious that he meant “moral support” more than “physical support in helping you kill an alien to save the planet”. 

“This weekend, most likely. I still have to work out the details.”

Mason winced slightly, “I have…”

“Yeah, I know you won’t be in town,” Dib sighed. He really _could_ use Mason as “back-up” in this situation. He had his own things to take care of, though.

“Are you sure you have to do this?”

Dib closed his eyes and let himself fall back onto his own bed, “I think I do…”

~~~

After months of Zim forming a relationship with who he, for such a long time, only knew as “the voice” and “Mothman”, it felt strange to finally discover that the person on the other end was actually someone he already knew. He had known Dib Membrane for years in the past and they had had an incredibly complex relationship all those years ago. While they were enemies, Zim definitely put forth the kind of effort that he did _because_ Dib was there to challenge him and his attempts towards world domination. He wouldn’t have gotten as far as he had in his plans during his youth were it not for the other man and he wouldn’t have felt so driven to continue working towards his goal despite the difficulties he faced because of him. 

The closeness that Zim had felt towards Dib back then, though, made sense to him. It was the closeness that stemmed from not love but spite, hatred, and stubbornness. He wasn’t used to feeling as though he were close to or dependent on someone for a more… soft and emotional reason. Realizing that Zim had put so much effort into what he did because of this person and that he had gained so much from this one person for reasons that seemed to stray beyond the capabilities of an Irken made him feel sick.

It also made him feel… strangely pleasant, though. 

For whatever reason, Zim felt as though things were _better_ when he felt close to Dib. Having someone who came to him when they needed advice or just because they wanted to talk to him because they _liked_ him felt _nice_. It was peaceful and exciting to have someone who played that role in Zim’s life. Dib came to him and supported him over the phone as well as giving him information and advice that helped him with his plans- even if he hadn’t known it. Most importantly, though, Dib had opened up to him about his strange human problems and Zim had been able to relate to them and tell him things that had not only made him feel better but had actually been helpful to him. 

Zim had never thought that he would care about pleasing and impressing anyone other than his Tallests, but, over the months- over the _years_ he supposed- Dib had slowly become that person that Zim _did_ care about and want to make happy. 

Zim was disgusted by this emotion. He _hated_ feeling weak like the humans he had always planned on conquering were. He _detested_ feeling vulnerable the way he did now. He _loathed_ feeling confused and unsure of himself the way he did once he realized how much he cared about the person that he had been planning on turning on the entire time. He didn’t want to feel the pathetic feelings he felt about this whole situation and the person in particular. 

But he also didn’t want to lose the relationship that he had cultivated with Dib, and learning that it was _him_ only made things more complicated. 

Zim dragged his hand down his face, letting out a disgruntled groan of irritation, catching GIR’s attention as he did so.

“What’s wrong, Master?” The ear of the fluffy dog costume the small robot wore perked up, showing the confused interest that the SIR unit was feeling. 

“Nothing, GIR.”

The robot flopped down at his feet, tail swishing back and forth slightly, “That’s not true.”

“I just don’t know what to _do_ , GIR,” Zim absentmindedly reached down to pet his companion’s head as he thought deeply about the situation at hand. Of course, he didn’t _want_ to hurt dib, but their entire relationship had begun because they _wanted_ to kill each other. The two of them wanted to bring one another harm and always had. Was Dib _also_ feeling this way, or was the human back in his own home, formulating plans to take them down at the very moment. 

Zim’s eyes flickered over to the analogue clock hanging above his television, reading that it was barely after three AM… so perhaps Dib wasn’t plotting against him at that _particular_ moment, but anything was possible and Zim couldn’t believe that Dib had given up on trying to take him down after dedicating so much time to the cause. 

What was the Dib going to do? And, more importantly, what was _Zim_ going to do? It was very likely that he would be putting himself in danger if he didn’t take down Dib while he had the chance, and he would be a step closer to disappointing his leaders if he wasn’t able to carry out this simple mission because of some stupid _human emotions_ that he was feeling because of some _stupid human_.

Was he really going to let himself and the entire Armada down because of some human that had only come into his life a few years ago?

...he might be about to. 

~~~

That day, dib called Zim, feeling far shakier and less sure about himself than he ever had in their past conversations. He had never felt as on edge as he did just then while speaking to Zim. In the past, he had always felt confident when calling- or, when he wasn’t, it hadn’t been because of _Zim_ \- but now? He felt stressed as hell… but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from what he _needed_ to do for the safety of himself and the entire world just because he was scared.

“Stink-Beast?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Dib swallowed the lump in his throat, attempting to clear it enough so that he could speak without sounding as though he was going to cry at any given moment.

“What is it?”

“I have new information that I think you’ll find interesting. There’s this meteor shower that’s happening in a few days and there have been a lot of indications that aliens may be involved this time around- that they might be present for it. I found this perfect place to watch the shower and look for other things that might be out there. It has a clear view of the sky and it’s just… a good place for this,” Dib took a deep breath, steadying himself, “And I want you to come with me to look for them.”

Zim hesitated on the other end of the line, “You want me to come with you to look at the stars and search for aliens…?”

“Yes. It’ll be interesting, and I think it’s something that your bosses will like to hear. We might even be able to get really good evidence to show them.”

“...alright, Moth. I will accompany you to search the sky.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, this is a bit shorter than intended and I didn't go over it a second time for editing, but I hope that you all enjoyed it regardless. Stay funky-fresh and hydrated, my dude.


	10. See You Soon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preparations must be made before the big night.

Zim had spent several hours debating his next step in his mission. Now, though his mission had been altered- in fact, he would almost say that he had an entirely new “side mission” of sorts, now. A mission where he somehow manages to prove to Dib that he cares about him and get him on his side without either of them suffering fatalities. 

...it wasn’t very likely that that little “side mission” of his would go over well. 

Zim did have high hopes for his mission, though! He could be incredibly persuasive at times and he was an absolute _genius_. He had not only his own powerful intellect on his side, but an incredible amount of technology that far surpassed that available to most humans on Earth as well. Zim had no doubts about his abilities. 

Regardless, he was also smart enough to not doubt _Dib’s_ abilities. The man was incredibly smart as well and, while he didn’t have access to the same kind of Irken technology and information that Zim did, he did have a fair amount of his own strong technology thanks to his father. The human also knew a great deal about Zim’s “weaknesses” and what could and couldn’t physically harm him. 

All in all, the playing field was practically level and both of them had always been incredibly determined people- that much hadn’t changed and Zim doubted it ever would. The only problem was that Zim didn’t know exactly what Dib’s true mission for that night was. Did Dib plan on hurting or killing him? Bringing him in to give him to the FBI? Capturing him for his own scientific experimentation? Or were Dib’s motivations completely pure? Did he truly just want to bring Zim along with him to look at the stars and search for some other life forms out there? Not knowing what to expect from the entire ordeal wasn’t good for Zim. It introduced far too many obstacles for him to face. He had to be prepared for anything that could possibly arise while he was with the Dib-Stink, even if he didn’t want to. 

With that in mind, Zim took the shell of the min control device he had initially constructed for the person he had experimented on not too long ago. Dib, in many ways, wasn’t like other humans, but that didn’t change the fact that he _was_ human. Zim had learned a great deal about Dib’s psyche over the years- especially the time they spent over the phone on primarily peaceful terms. Even if he didn’t fear and desire a lot of the things that the majority of the other people Zim had come into contact with did, Zim knew precisely what it was that Dib _did_ fear and desire. Zim knew exactly how to get into his brain and convince him to do what Zim wanted if the need arose.

Certainly, Zim had spent enough time fighting and tormenting Dib in various ways over the years to know exactly what would cause him the most harm. He knew what types of physical pain got to him the most (it was a _shockingly_ small amount of things that got to him, considering what a pathetic and puny form he had due to being a mere human) and what the Dib feared the most. Seeing the world burn to ashes at his feet, seeing it crumble to nothingness all around him while unable to do anything but watch hopelessly was something that he had always feared. Hearing his father blatantly tell him that he not only doesn’t believe him but isn’t proud of him either would absolutely break him as well. 

Zim didn’t want to break Dib, though. Even now, when he had the sneaking suspicion that he was at danger’s doorstep by meeting Dib, he didn’t want to cause him any more harm than absolutely necessary. As much as Zim didn’t want to acknowledge his feelings towards the human, he had come to terms with the fact that he needed to. He didn’t want to hurt Dib now that Zim _knew_ how much he meant to him- that would just hurt Zim as well. 

Instead, Zim was going to take the second option that he had set for himself on these devices. It was still another form of close-to-mind-control but it was a far “gentler” version. A completely non-violent, non-terrifying version. Fire, pain, and fear would be completely replaced with a perfect fantasy of what Dib wanted more than anything else in the entire world. Instead of hand-feeding him his worst nightmares to scare him into trusting a listening to Zim, he would show him the fantastic possible outcomes of following him. 

That night, Zim spent several hours weaving a blissful fantasy for Dib. In the world that he would see once the device was put on, everything would be in order. Things wouldn’t be the way that they currently were- not exactly, at least. The planet was falling apart and, frankly, revolting in several ways and even Dib agreed with him on that. In the world in the device, Dib would be respected and believed by all- including his father. While Gaz and Membrane would still be themselves, they would care more about his work than they did in reality- they would even help him with it from time to time and would gladly listen to him go on rants about it for hours. The world would be full of mysteries for him to solve and strange things for him to discover. While everything would have a fun amount of challenge behind it, it wouldn’t be impossible, and, once completed successfully, the people in the simulated world would praise Dib for his work. Zim was tempted to put himself into the simulation as well- just as a partner in crime for Dib to have on his journeys. He wasn’t positive how the human would respond to having Zim in his life in that capacity, even in a simulation, so he decided against it. 

The world he had created for Dib was perfect and Zim wished he could give Dib a _real_ world that was truly like the one in the device. That was beyond even Zim’s realm of possibility, though, so he didn’t allow the ridiculous idea to stay in his mind for too long. 

Zim safely tucked the device as well as the controller for it into his pak, careful to ensure that it would remain unseen by prying eyes without getting damaged during transport. He vowed that, while he was going to bring the device along, it would only be as a precautionary measure- a backup plan. It was plan C (maybe D)- just something in case he couldn’t talk his way out of this one without getting harmed or killed by the other. 

Despite everything that Zim had been trained to do and feel his entire life, he knew that, once he was with Dib, he would do _nothing_ to truly hurt the human because he simply didn’t _want_ to, even if it would help him. 

The night would end peacefully. He would do everything he could to ensure that.

~~~

Dib’s planning was just as elaborate as Zim’s was, though it was in incredibly different ways. 

He hadn’t been lying when he told Zim about the meteor shower, nor had he been lying when he mentioned the possibility of making contact with extra-terrestrials during that time. While the changes weren’t _incredibly_ high for that night, the chances were never _zero_ , and this night was far more likely to bear a positive outcome than most nights were. Dib didn’t have high expectations, but, at the very least, the possibility would give him and Zim something to do if they managed to go through the night without things getting violent. 

In preparation for that possibility, Dib _did_ actually do things that would help him- well, _them_ he supposed- while they embarked on their search of the sky. He made sure that his telescope was fully functioning still and cleaned the lenses for the best view out of them before carefully packing it so he could bring it along with him. He also brought the same device he had used all those years ago when he heard Zim on the Massive- though, granted, he had made several adjustments to it over the years so that it worked better and more accurately than it did back then. An old, large book about stars and astronomy in general that Dib had borrowed from his university’s library was slipped into his briefcase as well. He even packed the translation headset he had been working on, despite the fact that it was very much in the early stages of creation and he couldn’t actually be sure that it worked just yet. Maybe, that night, he would see if it really did work properly. 

Dib packed everything he could to ensure that they had the perfect setup for what he hoped would be the outcome of the night, perhaps even over-packing for it. Considering the fact that the meteor shower would be pretty spectacular even if he _didn’t_ manage to make contact with or see aliens, he was fairly excited for the night and had been for quite some time before he even decided to formulate the plan with Zim for that night. It was just as much exciting as it was a cover for his true plans. 

Still, the fact that he had been looking forward to the shower in some capacity made him hope that the night was peaceful between them (Dib told himself that that was the _only_ reason that he didn’t want the night to be violent and that his newfound feelings towards Zim had _nothing_ to do with it).

The possibility of the night somehow being completely non-violent, though, was… incredibly slim- even lower than the chance of them making contact, in Dib’s opinion. Zim came from a powerful race that thrived off of violence and destruction. A moral compass wasn’t something that most Irkens had, let alone followed. Zim had done so many things to harm not only Dib but the entire world and he feared that this night would be no different, despite his greatest hopes that it would be. He had to be prepared for the eventuality that things got out of hand. 

With that in mind, Dib dug through some old storage boxes back at home, retrieving some water guns from him and Gaz’s childhood. Each of them he tested to ensure that it was in decent shape before filling it with water and hiding it somewhere on his person. He had two different ones within the inner pockets of his trenchcoat, another one tucked away inside of his briefcase, and a final one stuffed down his boot (which was _ridiculously_ uncomfortable- far more than Dib anticipated it being).

Once finally ready, Dib took a deep breath and began making his way to the location he had instructed Zim to meet him at.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this was only supposed to be ten chapters, but the last chapter ended up being roughly four thousands words and i didn't want the last one to be too ridiculously long compared to the previous chapters, so I broke it in half to make things simpler.


	11. Kismesis Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy.

The meeting place that Zim and Dib chose was not the place that they intended to stay at for the actual meteor shower. As the clearing that they chose was at the top of a small, somewhat thickly forested hill, they met at the base of the hill to make the trek together- primarily because Dib neither wanted Zim to get lost nor get there before him and take advantage of the terrain to jump out at him unexpectedly and take him out. 

Aside from the mind-control device that Zim had brought along with him in his pak, Zim brought very little to prepare himself for the night. Dib, on the other hand, had his briefcase as well as some carrying bag that contained his telescope and the stand it sat on. The human was pacing in front of the line of trees when Zim arrived, fidgeting with his belongings as he waited for the alien.

When they first saw one another, they both just stood there, staring at one another. Neither of them truly knew what to do in the situation and both of them were seemingly waiting for the other person to make the first move. Both of them were expecting some sort of violent reaction from the other. When neither of them immediately made any move to do so, they both relaxed slightly. 

“Zim.”

“Dib-Stink.”

Dib rolled his eyes at the nickname, “You really need to come up with some new material, Space Boy. You’ve been calling me that since elementary.”

“And you calling me “Space Boy” is any different?” Zim narrowed his eyes slightly. 

“Touché.”

For a moment, the conversation lulled once more and silence fell between the two. 

“So, are you going to show me this place you want to go to, Beast, or are you just going to stand here and stare at me?”

Dib rolled his eyes and gestured to a path nearby that led into the woods, “C’mon. It’s this way.”

Zim and Dib walked side-by-side but kept space between the two of them, both incredibly uneasy about getting too close to the other one. Zim kept his eyes glued to Dib stealthily, calculating his moves as they travelled down the path, heading further and further into the woods. Dib kept one hand tucked into trenchcoat, resting his fingers on one of the squirt guns he had stored there, just in case. Neither of them made the first move, though. They each merely waited for the other.

Dib flicked his eyes over to meet Zim’s, catching him staring, “And you gave  _ me _ shit for watching you.”

Zim scowled, “Zim did no such thing.”

“Not  _ literally _ , you moron,” Dib sighed, gesturing with his free hand, “Just- let’s keep walking.” 

Underfoot, the leaves littered across the forest floor crunched softly. Both the feeling and sound were somewhat satisfying and soothing to the two men. The sound was quiet, but pleasing and made for a nice buffer in the moments when the two fell into silence, neither daring to speak to the other with the forbidden tension hanging in the air between them so thickly. Neither of them wanted to address the tension. The slowly crescendoing sounds of the night made that easier for them to do.

They only stuck to the actual path for what felt like ten or fifteen minutes before, somewhat unexpectedly, Dib strayed from the path, leading Zim into the thicker part of the forest. Although it was not yet nightfall, dusk was around them, making the sky go through its odd ritual of changing colours like a chameleon, making the sky darken gradually. The fact that the branches of the trees hanging thickly above them blocked out quite a bit of the remaining sunlight didn’t help in the least, either. 

“Why are you going off the path, Stinky?”

“We have to go this way to get to the clearing.”

“You leading Zim aimlessly into the forest is pretty  _ sketchy _ ,” Zim tried out he somewhat foreign human word, he didn’t use it frequently, but using it in this situation seemed fitting.

“It isn’t  _ sketchy _ \- you agreed to this!” Dib argued, “Besides, I know exactly where we are and where we’re going. This isn’t just aimless wandering. I’ve come here before.”

“To see the stars? Can’t you do that elsewhere?” Zim wasn’t surprised that Dib had wanted to bring him to a secondary location as opposed to one of their bases- in fact, it would have been strange of him to lead Zim directly into one of their houses for whatever plan he was attempting to go through with- but he hadn’t actually believed that Dib came to this location regularly.

“Technically, yes, but when you’re in the middle of the city, there’s too much light pollution from all of the street lights and house lights to properly  _ see _ the stars. They look way better when you’re in a place with little to no light,” Dib explained, holding a tree branch out of the way for Zim. When the Irken just gave him a strange look, Dib let go of the branch, allowing it to whack Zim in the face, causing him to stumble back. He continued to talk before the alien could complain, “Besides, it’s quiet and peaceful. It’s nice to just… come here, sometimes.”

“You humans are so sentimental about locations…”

“As if  _ you  _ wouldn’t be upset if the Massive exploded or something.”

Zim made an affronted noise, “Of  _ course _ Zim would be disgusted if that happened. That would be impossible, though! Unlike  _ your  _ pathetic race, Irkens are incredibly powerful and intelligent. We would never find our empire in such a dangerous position.” 

“My point exactly, Lizard Boy.”

“Zim doesn’t think the Dib made his point very well.”

“My  _ point  _ was that it isn’t just  _ humans _ who are sentimental about stuff like that- you guys are too.”

Zim was about to argue Dib’s point when Dib ducked under a tree branch, disappearing into some sort of clearing on the other side. Zim did the same, his wig snagging on the low-hanging branch. Instead of bothering with putting it back on, he simply stuffed it inside his pak, claws brushing up against his mind control device hesitantly as he did so. He had only bothered with the wig and contacts because there was a possibility that the two of them would run into other humans on their way there. Thankfully, they didn’t encounter any and it didn’t seem as though that would change any time soon. 

Dib ignored Zim in favour of looking up at the sky once they got to the clearing, slowly wandering to the centre of the open field. The sky hung heavy above then and, with the added height of the hill they were atop, it felt as though Dib could reach out and touch the inky purple abyss that hovered above them. The stars were barely starting to come out and the meteor shower wouldn’t begin for a few more minutes, giving him plenty of time to set up what he needed (so long as he didn’t need to stop in the midst of doing so to battle Zim). 

With their location, Dib felt safely secluded from other people as well as the dark reality that he so deeply didn’t want to face. Here and now, there were no irritating nonbelievers and no worries about pressure from anything or anyone else in his life. There was only him, the stars, and his strange nemesis-friend.

He didn’t allow himself to admire the sky for too long before he got busy. He set down the things he had been carrying with him, opening the bag with his telescope and removing the stand for it so that he could set it up and get it in the correct position. Moments later, Zim joined him with his work, assisting him in setting up the telescope. 

Dib narrowed his eyes at the Irken suspiciously for a moment.

“What?” Zim challenged. 

“Why are you helping me?”

“Do you not  _ want _ Zim’s help?”

“That’s not what I said.”

Zim and Dib allowed a peaceful silence to settle between the two of them once more as they worked in tandem to set up the telescope and aim it into the sky at the angle they desired. Next came the device Dib had brought along that would, hopefully, pick up signals from alien ships if there were any. With Zim’s help, the process went by far quicker than he had anticipated, leaving them sitting side by side in the grass once they were finished for several moments as they waited for the meteor shower to start. 

Zim wearily eyed Dib for a moment before looking down at the grass they were sitting on. He didn’t want to focus on the fact that Dib very well could attack him at any given moment. Zim still didn’t know what Dib’s true intentions for the night were and it infuriated him more than anything had all day. He didn’t know whether the night would really just consist of the two of them star gazing and searching for other alien lifeforms or if the night would end in some intense, bloody battle between the two of them. Either way, he was certain that the DIb was prepared and would be ready. 

A small gasp snapped Zim from his stupor. When he looked up towards the source, he saw that Dib was grinning up at the sky, fangs bared in the special way that humans did when they were especially pleased. His amber eyes shone with excitement, reflecting the stars that littered the sky above as well as the meteors that tumbled down through space, showing streaks of silvery light across DIb’s pupils. Dib didn’t even notice as Zim subtly moved closer to him, too deeply focused on what he was seeing to notice. 

It was beautiful, really, how thrilled and passionate humans could become over things that seemed so simple. Meteor showers were nothing more than rocks falling through space, slipping through the atmosphere of Earth only to burn up before reaching the surface of the planet. Yet there they were, Dib riveted at the sight, completely losing himself in the glowing lights filling the sky. His muscles were relaxed, completely lacking the tension he had carried with him all that night as they made their trek to the clearing they now sat in.

Zim never thought he could take interest in things like the simple meteors that rained across the atmosphere. Seeing the pure joy and interest that it sparked within Dib and feeling the peace and excitement in the air between them rather than nervous tension made him look at the rocks in the sky in a different light. Maybe there was a reason that Dib looked at them like that and, maybe, Zim was beginning to see the same. 

“Dib?”

“Yeah, Zim?” Dib’s eyes flicked over to Zim briefly, but enough to show that he was listening and paying attention to the alien’s words.

“I don’t want to fight you.”

There was a moment of quiet and Zim began to wonder if Dib had simply lost himself in the sight of the stars once more, but, then, the human spoke, “I… don’t really want to kill you, either, Space Boy.”

“Zim is glad we can agree on that.”

Dib laughed at that and Zim couldn’t help but crack a small smile as well. 

“Zim has... begun to hate you less than he did when we were children, Dib,” Zim started, sounding uncertain of his own words. If he was being completely honest with himself, he didn’t really know what he was saying, but he tried his hardest to say it well, “Over the time we have spent becoming acquainted with one another over the phone, Zim’s respect for you has increased. There are things about the Dib that I found disgusting back then and have found to be…  _ tolerable _ over time. I have come to realize that your words are not so meaningless as I had once thought. Zim… no longer wants you to die at his hands.” Zim struggled with his words, wanting to communicate his emotions, but scared to fully accept them as his, even after all this time. 

Dib cut Zim’s ramble short, leaning closer to him so he could rest his head on the alien’s shoulder, “I care about you, too, Zim.”

“Oh.” Zim hesitated for a long moment before leaning against Dib as well, allowing his head to rest atop the human’s soft head of hair, antennae brushing against Dib gently for a brief moment.

For the first time, the two of them were completely at ease around the other. All worries about eminent fights between the two of them and moral dilemmas dissipated as the two of them leaned against one another comfortably, staring up into the sky, just watching the stars go by. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINALLY finished. I'm so happy that so many of you reading this have given such positive feedback on this story and that so many of you seem to have enjoyed this.
> 
> Although this fic is over, I have plans for several more fics for this fandom (one of which is a somewhat "sequel" to this where Zim and Dib hunt cryptids together >:3) and am always open to suggestions for anything that you guys would like to see in the future.


End file.
